Being a small business doesn’t exempt you from needing a solid website these days. Whether you’re a local or national company, having a proper website not only increases your professional credibility but also expands the potential to find new customers online.
With 38.5% of users judging a business by how a website looks at first glance, it’s important to create a stunning first impression that makes your audience want to continue on.
If you’re looking for an easy platform to use for your small business website, look no further than Wix.
Why Wix Is the Best Website Builder for Small Businesses
Learning how to build a website on Wix is easy because the platform is easy to use. It’s incredibly adaptable and customizable, which is why we’ve created over 100,000 websites on it for our customers.
Wix is a free, user-friendly, website-building platform perfect for everyone from experts to, well, non-experts. Their technology and built-in features give users the freedom to design professional websites with ease. They even give you the option to edit for mobile devices without affecting your site’s desktop version.
It also features over 250 plugins to upgrade and customize your website even further! These plugins can help you do anything from creating social media posts, to help your customers order online to help you lower your abandoned cart rate.
Not only that, but some of the top companies worldwide host their websites on Wix.
CBS, Lyft, and Hilton - some of the most well-known companies in the united states - use Wix as their website platform.
Even if you don’t have an entire department or agency to show you how to build a Wix website, signing up with them will give you access to a library of over 800 pre-designed templates to get you started.
You can use these templates as they are or customize them to create a more distinctive design for your brand.
With Wix, you also don’t need to worry about buying web hosting or installing software; you just sign up and go. This alone is one of the main reasons we choose Wix to build our customer’s websites!
FAQ We Get Asked as Expert Web Designers
Before we get into the six things we wish we knew before learning how to build a website on Wix, we want to answer the top three questions we get asked regularly in regards to Wix web design:
1. How Many Hours to Build a Website?
This question entirely depends on how intricate your website will be, if you already have researched your target audience, have website inspiration, etc. Once all this previous work is complete, it usually takes between 4 and 12 weeks to complete a website. Assuming you work on this website four hours a day, five days a week, this would equal 80 to 240 hours total.
2. Should I Build My Own Website or Pay Someone?
This completely depends on your budget and project scope! We always recommend hiring an expert because they will be experienced in matters such as page load speed, menu navigation, and know the best up-to-date plugins and trends. And when it comes to security, having a web designer will help you keep your data and information safe from cyber-attacks.
3. Cost of Building a Website?
The cost entirely depends on how big your project is. When learning how to build a Wix website, you can choose the completely free options or upgrade to receive premium features. If you decide to hire a professional to save you the headache, they can charge upwards of $10,000 for a website! Zoek always keeps our services user-friendly with multiple types of payment options to give you the website you deserve at the budget you have.
6 Things We Wish We Knew Before We Learned How to Build a Website on Wix
Before we get into what we wish we knew before we learned how to build a Wix website, we first have to talk about the importance of having a plan!
Make sure you have a clear project scope before even thinking about doing anything. This should include deadlines, expectations, target audience, website copy, branding codes and fonts, and more. If you don’t have all of this information down, it will take a four-week project and turn it into an eight-week project!
Remember Your User Experience
Your website is not for you. It’s for your users!
User experience, often referred to as UX, is one of the most important features of your website.
It is essential to tailor your website copy, navigation, and design to what they are looking for and require. As you can see from above, having an outdated website or one that gives your customer a bad experience can not only stop them from buying your product in the future, but it can stop their friends and family as well.
Ask loyal customers or friends and family members in your target audience to navigate your menu and report back before publishing.
Web Copy Is More Important Than You Think
Your website copy is how your visitor learns everything about your brand and products or services before using your company. Compelling headlines, a strong value proposition, and copy that focuses on the benefits of your brand are crucial to turning visitors into loyal customers.
Take our homepage, for example. The first thing you read is “Results Driven Digital Marketing & Website Design.”
Before you even see the rest of our website, you know our company offers digital marketing and website design services.
The second is “From SEO to Web Design and everything in between, we have you covered. Click below for a free demo and receive a comprehensive report on your website and online presence.”
Here we focus on precisely what we offer our clients and place a strong call-to-action right off the bat to encourage them to take action.
Web copy also helps search engines understand your site. Using keywords in your headers, meta descriptions, body text, and more allows search engine crawlers better “see” what is on your website and which audiences to suggest it to.
This brings us to the third thing we wish we knew before learning how to build a website on Wix…
Your Website Is a Waste Without SEO
Your new website might be shiny and captivating, but if it’s not SEO-friendly, web crawlers won’t be able to suggest it to your audience.
SEO, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization, is one of the most important factors when learning how to build a website on Wix. As you can see from above, it takes a complete strategy that involves all aspects of your brand, on-site and off-site, to increase your search engine ranking.
To learn all about SEO, how to implement these strategies, and upcoming trends, click here.
Inconsistent Branding Can Make or Break a Website
A proper branding or style guide is an absolute must for all businesses. Not only do they help your brand stay visually consistent, but it’s an easy asset to hand over if you decide to hire a professional to create your website.
Without an official brand document filled with your colors, codes, fonts, do’s and do not’s, you run the risk of creating a website that is inconsistent from one page to the next.
According to Small Biz Genius, presenting a brand consistently across all platforms, including your website, can increase revenue by up to 23%.
Always Check the Mobile Version
Luckily this is an easy thing to update or fix when creating a Wix website!
Wix actually lets you edit your mobile version right on the editing platform without it affecting your desktop version. Your desktop site might look absolutely spectacular, easy to use, and simple, but that doesn’t always mean your mobile version will be too.
Not updating your mobile website to make it easier to navigate for mobile users is cutting out an entire population of potential consumers.
Check if Your Domain Is Available Before Choosing a Business Name
We’ve seen so many customers choose a great business or company name, only for every version of it as a domain to be taken.
If your business name is John Pierce Photography but the only domain name available is JPPics.com, that disconnect between your legal business name and your domain can not only turn customers off but make it hard to find your website.
In order to have a consistent domain and business name, check to make sure your domain name is available first before registering your company name with your state.
Your domain name should also be easy for web crawlers to understand as well. Having a long or complicated domain name can affect your SEO and cause your website to rank lower than normal.
Key Takeaways
There are many factors to remember and consider before creating your website, but this list of six items is some of the most important tips we could compile!
If you’re a small business that doesn’t have hours and hours to spend creating a website for your brand, Zoek can help! Most of our websites are built within just a few months, or even a few weeks depending on the size.
We take the hassle out of building your brand so you can focus on your social media, marketing strategies, product creation, or any of the other numerous items on your “to-do” list.
Kellyann Doyle is a Content Marketing Writer at Zoek, an SEO, Web Design, and Digital Marketing Agency that assists small and medium-sized businesses with their online footprint. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2013 from the University of Houston with a Major in Communications and a Minor in Marketing and has been working in the Digital Marketing world ever since. When not working, you can find Kellyann trying new recipes, enjoying a good nap, or watching Friends for the 500th time.